U.S. hopes for Syria threatened by Islamic alliance

Thursday

Sep 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 26, 2013 at 11:37 AM

BEIRUT - American hopes of winning more influence over Syria's fractious rebel movement faded yesterday after 11 of the biggest armed factions repudiated the Western-backed opposition coalition and announced the formation of a new alliance dedicated to creating an Islamic state.

BEIRUT — American hopes of winning more influence over Syria’s fractious rebel movement faded yesterday after 11 of the biggest armed factions repudiated the Western-backed opposition coalition and announced the formation of a new alliance dedicated to creating an Islamic state.

The al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is the lead signatory of the new group, which will further complicate fledgling U.S. efforts to provide lethal aid to “moderate” rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Collectively, the new front, dubbed by its members the “Islamist Alliance,” claims to represent 75 percent of the rebels fighting to topple Assad.

Gen. Salim Idriss, the head of the moderate Supreme Military Council and the chief conduit for U.S. aid to the rebels, cut short a visit to Paris after the announcement of the alliance overnight Tuesday and will head to Syria today to attempt to persuade the factions to reconsider, according to the council’s spokesman, Louay al-Mokdad.

The new alliance stressed that it was not abandoning Idriss’ council, only the exiled political opposition coalition, which, it said, “does not represent us.”

Mokdad acknowledged that by aligning themselves with Jabhat al-Nusra, the other rebel factions could jeopardize hopes of receiving outside military help, just as the Obama administration says it is starting to step up its support after more than a year of hesitation.

But, he said, the U.S. and its allies are to blame, for failing repeatedly to deliver on promises to provide assistance as the death toll in Syria, now well over 100,000, steadily mounted.

Meanwhile, after weeks of haggling, the U.S., Russia, France, China and Britain have agreed on the core of a U.N. Security Council resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, two Western diplomats said yesterday. Russia denied such an agreement.

The foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council met over lunch with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the diplomats said.

They said a draft resolution could be presented to the full 15-nation council soon and that the five permanent members would meet on Friday.